It was black. Just black. As it had always been inside this daemon. But today was different. Today, two eyes stared back. It was the daemon.
[Finally getting what you wanted, eh?]
The human smiled, "Yeah! I'm finally FREEE!"
[Yeah, and dead.]
"I don't care. As long as I don't have to put up with you anymore."
[Ha. Whatever.]
"Its not like you're dying anyway. You're a daemon. You'll revive, or something. I've seen your memories."
The daemon eyes disappeared for a brief moment. [No. All things die. But it was fun while it lasted. At least, in the end, I still won.]
"Fool." The human said, "Nobody won."
[Whatever] the daemon said. And then there was nothing but silence. The human sighed, his surroundings changing to that over a crystal clear sky and a mirrored floor. Turning to the young boy on the floor, he smiled.
"Thanks for caring for me. But this is it." The man said, "But...I know this is a little harsh, but if you meet a Grace Renfield anywhere...well...tell her Juno said he's sorry"
"Oi...Earth to Blake." Diego said, shining the flashlight in Blake's eyes. Blake woke up, sitting up right. He looked around him, a bit confused.
"Someone's lost." Diego said with a sigh, "Ah well, my work is done."
"Yeah, whatever." Spen said, his arm and ribs bandaged. "Don't expect us to thank you."
"Yes. Right. But you look awfully familiar."
"Never met you in my life."
"Hmm...Fine by me, then."
"Did you...kill him." Blake asked, looking in the direction of the corpse of the half breed. Spen rolled his eyes.
"Odd. Referring a daemon by 'he'. Well, yes."
Blake closed his eyes.
"If you're annoyed by the fact that you couldn't save the human's life, then excuse me to say, but that's a waste of time." Diego said. "To them, they died the moment they found out about their current predicament. Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to sleep, so lets go."
Blake stood still for a while. So his name was Jay Renfield, huh. Blake bowed low and turned to leave. He won't forget this. Not one bit."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN A VESTORER WAS SEEN?!!!" Hughes exclaimed. "We barely have enough men to spare and the few we have are looking for a damned half-breed!"
"What about the Inquisitors in the area?" One shield agent said, "Its their job after all."
"Are you going to ask Martha Dark or Jos....Kyler Tason to do that? After what happened this morning?"
"A few more are already on field."
"We're actually much closer to the site than they are."
"For now we've managed to evacuate surrounding civilians." Bree said as he got off the comms, "But we don't know how long before the daemon decides to come out."
"SIRR!!" A shield agent rushed in, "Good news."
When talking of the primes, Diego was considered the weakest. His lackadaisical attitude towards everything didn't help and he was barely seen fighting any daemon. Some claimed he got the position from bribery, others claimed he was a spy for the Shield. Either way, Diego didn't care.
"So, guess this wraps about everything, right?" Diego said to Reynolds.
"Yes. Yes it does." Reynolds said, as the cargo truck pulled over, coming to a stop a few metres from where they stood. "We thank you for your service."
"Please. You don't pay me, so forget it. Just treat the two boys. They've been through hell fighting off that white."
"With pleasure."
"Now, Martha...You look like crap."
"Don't even dare." Martha replied, "I thought you were..."
"Busy? I decided to run away. For the sake of my sanity."
"And sleep?"
"Yeah. That too."
"Great to see that you're alive though." Kyler said, "And in one piece."
"Meh, could have been worse. But Edgar took my place, so I'm more than thrilled." Diego said, turning to Dr. Vott, "Oh, and thank you, as well. Heard you were a great help back here."
"I was only offering the little help that I could. Besides you did help me some years back so that makes us even."
"Ah... I knew I've met you before. Wanna stay for some drinks?"
"While I would like to, my time here has expired. With all the half-breed exterminated, Spen and I will have to return to or old functions. But I will stop by sometime, if I get the chance."
"Please do." Diego said as he shook Victor Vott. Spen stood up and walked to Dr. Vott's side.
"Don't you forget, Blake." Spen said, "This isn't over."
Blake looked at Spen with a blank expression on his face. "Whatever."
"We'll meet again." Spen said as he turned to leave. Dr. Vott turned to Kyler and Martha and bowed.
"I offer you my gratitude. Your deeds will not be forgotten."
"Don't sweat it. We will meet again." Kyler said with a smile. Dr. Vott smiled back. He shook Reynolds hand and walked away with Spen.
"I'm gonna miss him. Not gonna lie." Reynolds said.
"Not me though." Kyler said, "We might end up meeting a lot more of them around."
"Yeah no kidding." Martha said.
"Are we done now?" Diego asked, "I am missing minutes of valuable rest, y'know."
"Nobody cares." Martha said. "But now that this is over, we can actually go, right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Reynolds said, "We can handle the rest."
From a distance, Kanon could be seen with Jacquez and Ricardo. The two guys looked stressed out, as anyone who had met the overenergetic persona of Kanon would be. On seeing Diego, she froze, confused at the sight of a prime.
"Oh...um...hi...." Kanon said shyly, darting her eyes somewhere else. Diego looked at her briefly before ignoring her, his attention on Zhao Fan who was carrying the sleeping Sarah with Rachel by her side. Rachel looked at Blake but said nothing.
"Off we go then!" Diego said, a bit impatiently. He walked a few steps ahead and stopped, turning to Martha. Martha looked at him, confused at the serious expression he wore on his face. Realising that he was not looking at her, he turned to see what he was looking at it.
There was a literal crack in space a few metres away from them. The crack began to widen and widen, revealing light. Several Shield agents assembled, their guns and licht weapons aimed at the spot. A figure emerged from the crack, straightening up with a stretch. He was an inquisitor, wearing the niform, but with a white coat on top of his black uniform. He had a book in his left hand, which he closed, his brown eyes resting on the Diego.
"Prime Diego, Good Evening." He said with a low bow. Diego groaned. Reynolds signaled to his men to lower their weapons
"Come on." He whined. "What is it this time, Damien Hunter?"
"The Grand Prime, Edgar Lionharte has asked for your presence at HQ."
"I'll be there tomorrow."
"Currently all primes are there. You are the only one not in attendance. You and Donna."
Diego groaned again. Martha turned to Kyler confused but Kyler just shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, fine." Diego replied, "But you better serve me with that tea of yours."
"As you wish. Also, Aides Martha Dark, Kyler Tason and Kanon should also follow."
Kanon rolled her eyes in annoyance. Martha sighed.
"I think Kyler should stay behind." Diego said, "Taking all the high ranking officials would be troublesome. This isn't like HQ or Tartarus."
"As you wish." Damien said, retreating back into the crack. Diego sighed, nodding at Kyler before walking through. Kanon followed, patting Rachel on the shoulder.
"We have a lot to discuss, 'Joseph'" Martha said, pinching Kyler in the arm before walking through. The crack sealed itself shut with a sizzling sound.
"Ah well, that was it for the day, lets wrap this up and go home!" Kyler said.
"Any chance of pizza tonight?" Rachel asked.
"At 2am?" Zhao Fan asked
"Anyone by chance have a good movie?" Kyler exclaimed, "I'm exhausted."
A hand rested on Blake's shoulder. It was Jacquez.
"An Alderwolf, huh?" Jacquez teased.
"I'm guessing you already knew that." Blake replied with a smile.
"Yeah, kinda easy to figure out."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"I wonder why myself."
Blake sighed. It was already dawn and there was barely anyone around. The few that were around looked at them in confusion, obviously at the fact that to there were a bunch of inquisitors walking around. Most of them stood their distance, afraid to be caught up in their mess.
"Would I...ever be forgiven for what I did?" Blake asked. Jacquez looked at him.
"Trying to seek someone else's forgiveness is futile, kid. She might never forgive you."
Blake sighed.
"So just forgive yourself." Jacquez said, "Own what you did and move on. That's what I did at least. It worked for me."
Ricardo caught up with Kyler.
"Hey, um...aren't you worried?" He asked him.
"Worried about what?" Kyler asked without looking at Ricardo.
"You know, the whole Damien showing up thing? Primes meeting? Duh? Those guys never meet and never get along, right."
"Actually they do get along..."
"Why now?"
"Ricardo." Kyler said with a serious tone, "Be prepared for the worst. A storm is coming. A big one at that"